Ford's First Full Size SUV - 1989 Ford Bronco Centurion

[1969CamaroSS350]

I'm really bored and searching eBay for rare and oddball vehicles and came across this:

From the late 1980s through its demise in 1996, the Bronco was also sold at Ford dealerships as a modified 4-door SUV (making it similar to the Excursion or Suburban). These 4-door Broncos were converted by Centurion Vehicles of White Pigeon, Michigan. The conversion involved combining a new club cab short bed F-Series truck with a Bronco tailgate and fiberglass top. The end result? A huge, versatile, extremely rugged SUV. In addition to adding a third row of seats and more room, a Bronco Centurion could be ordered using an F-350 as the donor pickup, allowing the Centurion to have such engines as the 7.3L PowerStroke turbodiesel and the 7.5L 460ci gasoline V8. This made the Centurion more appealing to people in need of a comfortable tow vehicle, albeit a faster one. Over time the few of these cars that still exist are rare and valuable, except for the certain percentage of Northern cars that suffered from tailgate rust-out due to poor body paint preparation.
The Bronco Centurion could be ordered with options such as a third-row seat that can be folded into a bed, second row bucket seats, a TV with a VCR, and a built-in radar detector.
Bronco Centurions were considered as after market conversions before Ford's introduction of the Excursion as an official production model in 2000.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1989-...QQcmdZViewItem

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

One look and it's easy to see why it was so rare

[91 s-10baja]

saw one of those at the coast last w/e, at an Italian concours show! bizzare

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

You know what was a nice rare SUV? The Laforza.

[91 s-10baja]

Originally Posted by Smaart Aas Saabr

You know what was a nice rare SUV? The Laforza.

Oh hell yeah!! there is one guy that has one in the same office building as us! Black. I think it is a good looking rig!

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

Well the bodies were made in Italy, it has to look good

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[91 s-10baja]

My friend has an LM002, i have posted pics before, but I LOVE IT, Italians go boxy well!!

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

Is your friend a relative to the Saudi royal family or something

I always loved those big Pirelli Scorpion tires on those. I mean WOW those are big. They remind me of those giant tires on those big dump trucks that are larger than the average apartment building...

[91 s-10baja]

Originally Posted by Smaart Aas Saabr

Is your friend a relative to the Saudi royal family or something

NO!! hahaha, but this is a Saudi spec version, not the US version. In fact it is the same one (actual unit) that was featured on the cover of Autoweek, in 1987.

[BrickTamland]

Originally Posted by Smaart Aas Saabr

Is your friend a relative to the Saudi royal family or something

Or perhaps Brunei, as Bentley did with the 'Dominator.'

[AndrewGS]

There used to be a '94-'96 Centurion 4DR Bronco in my neighborhood. Centurion did all kinds of coversions, like Crew Cab 1/2-Ton C/Ks, Sierras and F-150s, luxury trucks, SUVs and vans, dually Suburbans, etc.

As for the LaForza, those things always looked like Hyundais on the outside, like Maseratis on the inside and like Mustangs under the hood.

Originally Posted by BrickTamland

Or perhaps Brunei, as Bentley did with the 'Dominator.'

LOL, I had forgotten about those! Now they look like Chinese knockoffs of an old Toyota with a Bentley/Navigator front end.

[F14CRAZY]

Reminds me of the '91 F250 diesel my uncle gave to my dad. That thing was a tank...

[t-rex]

Some of these cool old SUV's bring back memories...

Anybody remember the IHC-based Monteverdi Safari?

http://www.collidingstar.com/scout/sahara.htm

I tried to find a pic of a Felber Oasis, but to no avail...

[Old Dood]

Originally Posted by 91 s-10baja

My friend has an LM002, i have posted pics before, but I LOVE IT, Italians go boxy well!!

I like this one...except the windshield can aquire a stone chip rather easily...I really like the interior of this one though...

[1931Chevy]

It looks like someone at Autoblog like us
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/05/20/e...he-pre-expedi/


eBay Motors has been a treasure trove of good finds this week, and today we bring you another rare SUV like the Saleen Explorer XP8. Though there are more than a few full-size SUVs on the market today, for decades the Chevy Suburban ruled a segment of one before the Ford Expedition arrived in 1996. But until Ford could develop a suitable Suburban fighter it made do by offering the Bronco Centurion, a four-door version of the Ford Bronco that was converted by a company named Centurion Vehicles.

The Centurion began life as a four-door club cab short bed F-Series pickup. To it was added a Bronco tailgate and fiberglass cap to close off the bed. A third-row bench was also donated by the Bronco to make the Centurion capable of carrying 8-9 people.

This particular Centurion is built off of the eighth-gen F-Series, though Centurions were also built on the ninth-gen F-Series up until 1996 when the tenth-gens arrived. It's powered by Ford's big 7.5L 460 c.i. V8 using the three-speed C6 automatic. Sure, it's got 220,000 miles on the odo and needs some TLC, but chances are any interested parties aren't looking for a show vehicle.

[Source: eBay Motors via GM Inside News]